


Angel Eyes

by madz_g_943



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-04-14 00:31:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4543317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madz_g_943/pseuds/madz_g_943
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ashoka left the 501st only one Jedi remained. That is until Anakin Skywalker is placed in charge of a new Padawan. She's tough, strong willed, and reminds all the clones of someone from the past who they still desperately need, especially one in particular. Rex/OC... characters are OOC slightly with regulations mainly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I came up with this idea not so long ago and decided to share it with the world. This story is also on other websites and it still belongs to me. If you're reading this then thank you for giving it a try. As some things are in Mando'a I give you this list of easy translations! Enjoy the read!!  
> utreekov= fool/idiot  
> kriff/kriffing= fuck  
> frag/fragging=fuck/fucking  
> Shinie= New clone trooper  
> Bantha fodder = nearly equal to bullshit  
> Osik = shit  
> A pain in the choobies= pain in the ass  
> di'kut= idiot  
> shebs= ass  
> verd'ika = soldier (but it's an affectionate way, almost like you would call a child)  
> sithpit= hell hole  
> Haar'chak= nearly means shit/fuck  
> jari'eyc = ugly  
> slana'pir verd'ika= get out little soldiers  
> Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya= train your sons to be strong, but your daughters to be stronger.

Rio sat in the seat next to a clone pilot as they dropped out of hyperspace, through the window she could see the hulking form of the  _Resolute_  in front of them. Her stomach twisted and turned into knots at the sight. She was nervous, nervous for many reasons, one of them being she was to meet her new master today.

"Hawk is it?" Rio asked carefully. She never liked messing up a trooper's names.

"Yes Sir, it's Hawk..." His visor turned towards her. "Ma'am do you need something?"

"It's just Rio, not Sir or Ma'am…" Rio started then paused, thinking of her words. "Yeah actually, I wondered… What's Skywalker and his men like? I've heard quite a lot…" For a moment Rio just looked at the pilot next to her and waited for an answer.

"Umm, well the general is very, very, unorthodox. You two will get along and I also expect you'll like the captain as well, he's quite something…"

"What makes you think we'll get along?" Rio questioned him,  _when had it ever hurt her to be curious? Nearly every single kriffing mission,_ she answered her own thought.

"Ma'a… I mean R-Rio, your master and squad were talked about frequently in Torrent Company." Hawk explained, then he paused as he looked for some words to say, "I am truly sorry for what happened."

Rio had known it was coming, but she hadn't expected the tears to start leaking from her eyes. "So am I…" She whispered. Then suddenly she felt the transport vessel lurch as the tractor beam locked on to them.  _Guess it's time…_ "Thanks for taking me Hawk, hopefully we'll see each other again."

"I'd like that Rio." The pilot admitted before opening the base of the ship up so she could walk out. When she was out of earshot he stated to himself, "It's like the ex-commander walked back into my ship."

The light in the  _Resolute_ was bright and it caused Rio to blink multiple times to compensate for the brightness that reached her eyes. She walked down the platform, her black combat boots made loud thuds on the ground as she walked. Many of the troopers who worked in the bay, refueling ships or making repairs to damaged vessels ignored her, only a few looked her way at all. Rio looked around for her Master since he wasn't in front of the ship. After turning around, Rio knew immediately where her new master stood when her eyes made contact with the brown messy hair, tall build, bright blue eyes, and scar over one eye. In front of her, stood Anakin Skywalker, the chosen one, and her new master.

A blue and white clad Captain with Jaig eyes stood by Anakin's side, his visor never leaving her form. Rio refused to slow her approach, no matter how nervous she was, how scared. She masked her force signature as well so Skywalker would be unable to sense her fear of meeting him, instead she put on the aura of a calm Jedi padawan and walked towards her new charge.

She respectfully nodded at him not bothering to bow, she had given up on many useless Jedi customs the day her master had died. Rio waited to see how Anakin would react to her not bowing to him. She was pleasantly surprised when he just gave her a sharp grin, which turned into a smile.

"So you're the kid I'm getting assigned?" Anakin asked, taking her in, she watched his eyes carefully assess her.

"And you're the one who gets to deal with me…" Rio replied, her voice low as she looked between him and her new captain, she stuck a hand out for him to shake before stating her name. "Rio."

Anakin took her hand in his own as they shook hands, he then gestured to his captain. "This is Rex, my second in command and the best captain you could ever ask for. As you probably already know, I'm Anakin Skywalker." Her new master stated cockily, it sounded like he had said this once before.

"Rex," Rio gave him a smile, before making a comment on what Anakin said. "And yes master, I have heard of your antics from Kenobi many times."

"You know Obi-wan?" Anakin asked surprised.

"Of course, he and Tula are close… Were close." She corrected herself bitterly and in an attempt to disguise this, asked a quick question. "Anyway, when can I meet the rest of the 501st. I've heard much about your men."

"Rex will take you to meet them now and afterwards you will come find me." Anakin explained, while Rio watched Rex stare at his General, obviously annoyed at being put on babysitting duty.

"Is there a problem Rex?" Rio innocently questioned him, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No problem at all Sir." Rex gruffly answered her. "Let's go." She followed his blue streaked battle armor as he started walking away from the hangar. Once they were walking down the different hallways, Rio started speaking.

"I don't want you to call me Sir, it's just Rio. Nothing more." The Padawan stated. Rex at this point took of his helmet and stared down at her. She could now see how the Captain looked, he had extremely short blonde fuzzy hair shaved close to his head, and the amber eyes of all his brothers.

"Yes, Si… Rio." Rex muttered for a second. "So kid, where did you come from?"

"Came from an assignment in Ryloth, my Master and I were in charge of Demon Company…" Rio looked down at the white metal floors as she talked. She could feel Rex as he watched her and brushed back a loose strand of blonde hair from her eyes as a distraction. She felt nervous at what his response to this would be.

"So you were Jep's Commander?" Rex asked her, his voice was slightly off. Rio could feel a slight shift in his emotions through the force. She stopped and grabbed his arm, holding him in place. She could feel his discomfort at her holding him this way but didn't pull back when he saw the pained look in her eyes.

"You knew him?" Rio questioned, her voice a low whisper.

"Aye, we trained together… Probably one of the best clones I ever knew."

"Men, Captain Rex." Rio corrected, Rex stared down at her confused. "He was one of the best men I ever knew, you are more than just clones Captain, embrace that." And with that statement Rio, let go of Rex's arm and gestured for him to continue leading her down the hallway.

When they reached a certain section of doors Rio automatically knew this was the mess hall. The reason? She could hear the familiar sound of the soldiers inside, joking, laughing, eating, and just being themselves. It put a smile on her face just listening to the familiar sound of the men around her being happy. She looked up to see Rex with a smirk plastered on his face, obviously referring to her smile.

"You're really that happy to see hundred of men with the same face every day?"

"Rex, when that face is on the men who cover my  _shebs,_  make me laugh, and make me cry, it's impossible not to be ecstatic."

"Come on then, time to meet the boys."

As soon as Rio walked into the mess, nearly everyone went silent, many of the men whispered to each other as she walked by. She could hear the occasional sexual innuendo that one clone would say to his brother, and the laughter that followed. It probably would have caused a deep blush to spread across her cheeks if she wasn't already used to this kind of behavior. One trooper whispered a comment to his brother about her just being "eye-candy for them in battle", she just rolled her eyes at this but Rex stopped.

"This is the new Commander you're looking at! Show some respect trooper!" Rex reprimanded, his voice was stern and Rio immediately knew why he was the captain. Because as soon as the words were let loose from his mouth, the offending trooper immediately straightened up and glanced over at her and started mouthing an apology.

"Sir, I'm sorry I meant no disrespect, it's just… W-we haven't seen a woman in awhile." The trooper eventually managed to choke out. Rio felt a smile form on her face and she involuntarily let out a very un-Jedi like laugh. This seemed to surprise the men who glance at each other and to Rio it seemed as if they were nervous about what her end answer would be.

"I missed being around my men, you have no idea how dull temple life can be on Coruscant." She laughed, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear, "and it's just Rio lads, none of this Sir  _Haar'chak,_  cause the only time I'm gonna pull rank is on the battlefield."

* * *

Damn, he had known Skywalker was getting a new padawan, but the one he received was nothing like he expected. Rex had been waiting for an awkward fourteen year old to come padding out, freshly new to war and already acting like he was superior and wise.  _Just like Ahsoka had when you first met her,_ Rex though to himself. Instead, a girl had walked out of the ship, no scratch that, a woman. She was undeniably beautiful with long blonde hair pulled back into a pony tail and large gray eyes. Her legs were incased with thick nerf hide leggings where her dual lightsabers clipped on, and a simple black top very similar to Aayla's with her toned stomach visible. Rex was already thinking of a plan to get her to wear proper armor, something that he was never able to convince his previous Commander to wear.

The thing that still puzzled him, was her attitude. He could count on one hand how many Jedi let their clones call them by their first names without a thought.  _Let's just hope the kid can fight, cause I'd rather have a Jedi with a dick attitude towards us clones, then a nice one who can't fight for osik…_


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 1 is up and ready! I just want to say thank you to all those who have come back for this chapter! Lots of Love... Disclaimer: I still don't own Star Wars.  
> utreekov= fool/idiot
> 
> kriff/kriffing= fuck  
> frag/fragging=fuck/fucking  
> Shinie= New clone trooper  
> Bantha fodder = nearly equal to bullshit  
> Osik = shit  
> A pain in the choobies= pain in the ass  
> di'kut= idiot  
> shebs= ass  
> verd'ika = soldier (but it's an affectionate way, almost like you would call a child)  
> sithpit= hell hole  
> Haar'chak= nearly means shit/fuck

It had been a week since Rio had been introduced to Torrent Company. She had to admit, Hawk had been right about her getting along with the new team, everything was going smoothly. It was nice to be near men who understood her jokes and laughed with her. Unlike the majority of Jedi in the temple that she had been confined to speaking with, all rules and protocol.

 _You'd be just like them if Tula hadn't been your master…_  She let out a soft sigh at the thought of her lost mentor and rolled over onto the other side of her bed. She stared at the blank gray wall, it was early,  _probably early enough to avoid the flow of clones in the gym…_  Quickly snaking herself out of bed, Rio slipped on her usual uniform and walked towards the room where she knew she could train. The  _Resolute,_ had every room located in the same manner as Demon Company's old ship, so getting around the brightly lit hallways was easy.

She walked into the empty room that only contained dummies piled up to her left and extra equipment to her right that she never touched. Rio quickly eyed the dummies and sub concisely twirled her wrists, loosening them for hand-to-hand combat. She used the force to move some of them while she put her lightsabers down. Keeping herself in the middle Rio started her warming up, after throwing multiple kicks and jabs she felt loosened up enough to really train. Then she started flipping, kicking, dodging, and sliding on the ground acting like she really was against multiple opponents.

Someone's grip on her shoulder caused the padawan to jump and she whipped around ready for a real fight. Rio relaxed only when she recognized Rex by his blonde hair and familiar force signature

"Hey Rex." Rio murmured, while she threw another punch at her dummy target. She tried to ignore his eyes on her while she threw more punches at her target, inwardly she was hoping he would ask to train with her just so she wouldn't have to keep punching the same thing over and over.

"Do you need a partner?" He finally asked.  _Doesn't seem like this is his first time asking this..._

"Damn, that took you a long time to clue into." Rio laughed, she took a gloved hand and wiped the sweat from her brow. Concentrating, Rio tapped into the familiar flow of energy that was the force and allowed it to flow through her, she then focused on the dummies and moved them into a pile. By now, she felt no strain when using the force for these small tasks.

Rex set himself up on the other side of the mat, wearing loose pants and a baggy shirt,  _he had been here to work out,_ Rio noticed.

"I'll try not to kick your  _shebs_ …" Rio teased cheekily. Rex smirked back at her, and motioned for her to start. So she leaped at him, it was a perfectly calculated jump, she landed just past him and struck at his leg. Unfortunately for Rio, he had anticipated this and was already in a blocking position. As soon as she felt Rex block her arm Rio flipped backwards to get out of his striking position. When her feet touched the ground she barely had time to adjust before Rex was striking and kicking at her. This isn' _t his first time fighting a jedi..._

She barely was able to block his arms when she felt him kick her in the stomach, the sharp feelings of pain crawled up her stomach and fueled her desire to win this sparing match. Using an age old tactic, Rio suddenly dropped down and swept his feet out from under him with a well placed kick. She jumped on top of Rex, who successfully managed to throw her off within the next few seconds.  _Son of a bantha, this is definitely not his first time_ _..._

 _I need to take a different approach…_ Rio then placed an easy to catch kick at his stomach, with a smirk Rex caught her leg. She watched his smirk disappear when her other foot came into contact with the side of his face. Rio pushed herself off the ground and walked over to Rex who was lying on the ground looking up at her.

"Good thinking, Sir." Rex admitted, Rio flashed him a grin and offered her fingerless gloved hand to him. He took it and hauled himself up, Rio would never admit it to him but she almost lost her footing, as she was unprepared for how much he weighed.

"It's just Rio." She corrected him after he was up, the look Rex gave her after that statement caused her to roll her eyes. "You can call me Sir on missions, hows that sound? Fair trade Captain?"

He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a quick nod, they stood in silence for a moment before Rex spoke again. "Why are you up anyway, no missions have been called in so there's really no point for you to be up."

"Just didn't feel like sleeping…" Rio told him, she didn't feel like explaining her thoughts on Tula or Demon squad. The look she got in return made her think Rex knew exactly what she was hiding from him but he didn't push the issue and just stood next to her.

Rio was about to ask him what he was doing up, when her comlink started beeping. She tapped the blue button and saw a very tired looking Anakin rubbing his eyes with his hands.

"Rio, good to see you're up… Oh Rex, I'm glad to see you're up as well, well this saves me having to call you after this…" Rex chuckled and Rio raised her eyebrow at Anakin's words. "Anyway we got assigned a mission on Christophis, we'll be getting out of hyperspace in around an hour, be ready."

Inclining her head slightly Rio acknowledged what he said before turning off her comlink.

"I'm going to get the men ready, Commander." Rex told her before walking out of the room, he paused at the door and turned back to her, "you ready kid?"

"I was born for this Captain." Rio answered, her voice unintentionally lowering. The captain gave her a curious look before walking out of the room. Rio walked to the side of the room and forced her lightsabers to her hands, she ignited them and looked at the two blades. Her shoto blade was a turquoise color, while the other one was a dark leafy green, she loved them both immensely, they were part of her heart. If Rio had turned around she would have seen the Captain looking at her with a sad expression, the lightsabers reminding him of another Padawan he once knew.

* * *

Rex did one last check on his Dc-17s. He felt the familiar weight in his hands and underneath his helmet a sad smile formed.  _I'm going to lose men today…_ He continued walking back and forth while he directed different men to different gunships. It was hard for him to think that many of these men may never see the interior of the Resolute again.  _Snap out of it Rex! You're going to get yourself killed if you think like that._ The sight of Fives pushed him back to reality and out of his thoughts.

"Rex, where do you want me?" Fives asked and didn't wait for an answer before continuing, "If it's not to much to ask, can I go with the new general." Rex chuckled at Fives statement, it was nice to hear one of his men have such humor.

"You were scheduled in the gunship with us anyway Di'kut." Rex answered, if his helmet was off, Fives would have seen his eye roll. Fives looked like he was about to reply when Rio walked by the both of them, obviously going to talk to the general.

"Still can't believe that's really the Demon's Saber... I was expecting someone a little bigger…" Fives noted, Rex turned back towards him confused, Fives evidently understood this because he started to explain to the confused Captain. "Rio was second in Command of Demon Squad." Rex nodded, he knew this. "She earned the nickname Demon Saber. The rumors spread that apparently it was because she held off General Grievous so her troops could run."

Rex wasn't shocked, with everything he had seen in his career of a being a Captain nothing fazed him anymore but the story was indeed interesting and it reminded him of someone.

"How many of her unit died that day?" Rex was curious now, he wanted to see how the young woman operated.

"Well, looking at the stats…" Fives trailed off as he used his helmet to look at squadron information. "Fier'Fek. Demon Company has the lowest clone casualty rate and some of the most effective results."

"Send those to me." Rex ordered, seconds later, the inside of his helmet lit up and the information flooded his gaze. Fives had been right, the casualties in Demon company were the lowest he had ever seen,  _well the lowest until they were wiped out anyway… "_ Maybe the new Commander will bring our numbers down as well."

"I hope so. I'm tired of losing shinie's to the Seps." Fives added. A voice from one of the gunships called to them.

"Rex, Fives, get on the ship we're going in." Rex recognized the voice of Anakin Skywalker, and immediately nodded to Fives, before they ran towards the gunship. Once they were inside the doors closed and Rex felt the lurch of the ship as they were thrown into the atmosphere of Christophis. After a few minutes Rex felt the landing gear engage and he sighed. It was a smooth landing, and one of the few that Rex ever had, usually his landings involved being shot at from Anti-air guns.

"Kick some clanker  _Osik_  will you?" The pilot's voice came from out of the comlink of every one who filed out of the ship. Shouts came from the clones on the ground in agreement to this statement, and Rex saw Rio give a broad smile and a wink up to the pilot.

 ** _"Please tell me someone caught that wink on their visor."_** The pilots voice rang inside his helmet. All the clones' armor was synced so they could talk to one another without the interference of their Jedi generals.

 ** _"I got it."_** A few voices rang out.

 ** _"I'm replaying it."_** Fives chimed in. Rex chuckled to himself, he hoped this padawan was worth all the fuss the men were giving her. He then noticed Rio's head whipped to the left and her eyes narrowed at something.

"Something's wrong." Rio muttered so softly Rex was surprised he heard it. "Master I'm going to scout the area to the right, I'll be back." And without another word she was off, jumping and climbing onto the beautiful blue buildings, many of which were destroyed and turned into blue rubble.

"Rio!" Anakin shouted after his padawan. Once he realized that she was out of earshot, Anakin shouted at Rex and Fives. "Rex, Fives, go after her I'll organize the men here."

"Sir yes Sir." Both men shouted in unison before starting the run after the Padawan.

 _ **"How the hell did she get so far ahead of us?"**_ Fives wondered, Rex looked back at him quickly before Rex replied sarcastically.

_**"Oh it has nothing to do with her being a jedi."** _

" ** _I don't appreciate the sarcs…_ " **Fives stopped immediately and Rex saw why, the amount of carnage in front of them would make anyone stop. Even through their helmets the rank odor of blood and rotting flesh seeped into their suits and caused Rex to immediately feel nauseated. As he walked through the bodies, Rex could tell they were innocents from Christophis, the ones who walked out of their houses at the wrong time. Their bodies weren't just shot at, they were cut up and ripped apart.

Just when Rex thought things couldn't get any worse at that moment, he heard multiple shots coming from maybe fifty meters away and getting closer. He raised his pistols and saw Fives doing the same with his rifle when they both saw the flashes of green. Rex then realized exactly why they had called Rio Demon Saber. She was taking out droids as if they were flies, her light sabers a flash and she rolled and finished off the last three droids with one flick of her hand.

"Commander!" Rex shouted, still astounded at her fighting as he and Fives ran over to her position.

"Rex, Fives," Rio gasped, out of breathe. As Rex glanced behind her, he could see at least thirty droids littered where she had fought. "There… there's a droid convoy coming this way, we need to stop them here if we can or at least thin them out."

"Sir. I know you're confident in your abilities. But we should get the general…" Fives started, but Rio cut him off.

"If we get reinforcements more soldiers get put directly in harms way." Rio explained, "I have an idea that we can use." Rex saw Fives bucket turn towards him and heard the ever-familiar voice in his head.

 _ **"Should we listen to her Rex?"**  _Fives asked him.

" ** _She's the Demon saber for a reason, we do it her way for now."_** Rex answered.  _I hope this doesn't kriffing screw up._

Rio looked up from her position against a hidden wall. Her plan was to have Rex and Fives on top of the roofs taking out the commanding B-1 droids and any other ones that got in her way. She remembered what Rex had asked her.

"If the mission goes south Sir what do we do?" She had looked him dead in the visor and answered honestly.

"Leave me to cover you and get back to Skywalker."

"But Si…" Fives had started to chime in, she put a hand up to keep him quiet.

"That's an order."

* * *

Both troopers turned their visors towards each other and Rio knew they were having a private conversation within their buckets. She didn't feel offended in the slightest, she had gotten used to troopers having their own little private world of their own. They deserved so much more than just that little section of privacy.  _I hope this works. A Jedi and two troops against an army. Well at least the troops are an Arc trooper and infamous captain Rex._

The clanking of droids caused her to ignite her dual light sabers. Rio looked back up to the building and nodded to Rex, who nodded back at her and then started firing on the droids. The blue bolts fired past her as she ran and started slashing at droids, reducing them to piles of rubble. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, Rio was dodging bolts, blocking, and slashing as she went. The pain in her muscles and sweat that ran down her face never mattered, all she could focus on was the movement of her blades.

"Put your hands up!" Rio stopped moving, but stayed in a crouched position with her sabers still ignited. It was a living voice, not the monotone of a droid, but one of flesh. She did indeed recognize the voice of General Loathsom, a low ranking Commander in the separatist army.  _I swear the Republic already had this bastard in custody._

Rio held up her hand, praying Rex and Fives understood her orders and held their fire while she talked. "On whose Command do I surrender to then?" Rio questioned an eyebrow raised, a Holopad was brought out and a Kerkoidan male was being projected in front of her.

"I have ordered you to surrender." He stated simply. Rio deactivated her lightsabers and while she clipped them back onto her belts, hit the broadcast on her comlink. Now Rex and Fives could hear everything being said and listen for her clue.

"General Loathsom, you had quite a reputation in my previous unit." She smirked and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Padawan Rio Tesslar, more commonly known as the Demon Saber. Your company is quite well known in the separatist movement." Loathsom started to say, almost sweetly, then his voice changed, "I mean, was well known." Rio bristled and her hands fell back onto her lightsabers. How dare he bring up her fallen family.

"It's ok jerk-ass, this unit's about to go boom." With that statement, she turned and ran, a small hiss followed by the ripping burning sensation in her thigh let Rio know she had been shot. Ignoring this, she kept moving and hid behind one of the buildings while she covered her ears with her arms. Then the explosion went off, and pieces of hot metal rained down on her body. Rio inwardly praised her idea before she struggled to stand on her two legs and walk towards where Rex and Fives would meet her.  _Thank the force Rex had those explosives with him,_ she thought.

She was surprised when she felt a distinctive ache in her side and looked down to find a piece of metal jammed into her going straight through the side of her stomach. Once the pain hit her in full force she leaned against a blue wall and slid down. Rio realized she would be unable to move and turned on her comlink again, she talked into it, "Rex. I'm unable to move from my position… I-" Cough, blood spattered onto her comlink. "Need help."

"We're on our way Commander, just hang tight." The captain's voice rang out, and Rio put her head against the back of the wall. Only moments later both troopers seemed to just materialize in front of her. Her eyes kept fluttering shut, and she tried not to close them, she wanted to be awake, to help her men if they needed her.

"Sir, I hate to say this… But you don't look so good." Fives muttered to her, she knew he was trying to make her laugh. She gave him a small smile in response, her head resting against the cool glass like material of Christophis's blue buildings forcing her to look up at them. Their familiar helmets and armor comforted her.

"I'm going to get you back to base Commander." Rex promised her, as he bent down and picked her up in his arms so he could carry her back. As hard as she tried Rio was unable to suppress the hiss of pain that came out of her mouth as her side and leg were jostled. "Just keep talking to me Sir. Don't go to sleep." Rio decided to take heed of his advice and probably from lack of blood she started talking about an incident in Demon Company.

"You know Jep always told me this was going to happen." She whispered into Rex's neck piece, Fives was busy scouting the surrounding area, watching for droids.

"Because you're a reckless di'kut or another reason?" Rex asked as he tried to keep her talking.

"Jep was always annoyed at what I wore. He said it was distracting, and it offered no protection, Jep always said that I needed "verd" armor. Well when he said it to me, he said Verd'ika." Rio hissed. She didn't even know why she was telling Rex this, it must have been the pain and inability to focus. "I miss him, I want him back." Then with those final words she felt herself finally drift out of conciseness, her exhaustion and blood loss taking over.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like it! Sorry for the wait!

If anyones waiting on this heres the next chapter! It's a little slow and not as long as I'd like but here you go! R&R if you want! Disclaimer: Still don't own Star Wars. Thank you anyone that has reviewed! It means a lot!

 _utreekov= fool/idiot  
_ _kriff/kriffing= fuck  
_ _frag/fragging=fuck/fucking  
_ _Shinie= New clone trooper  
_ _Bantha fodder = nearly equal to bullshit  
_ _Osik = shit  
A pain in the choobies= pain in the ass  
di'kut= idiot  
_ _shebs= ass_  
verd'ika = soldier (but it's an affectionate way, almost like you would call a child)  
sithpit= hell hole  
Haar'chak= nearly means shit/fuck

* * *

Rex tried not to focus on the piece of metal that protruded from Rio's side, he resisted the urge to rip it out with his bare hands as he carried the young woman towards Skywalker's position.

_**"Fives anything up ahead?"** _

_**"That's a negative captain, the zones all clear."** _

_**"How far from the General's position?"** _

_**"Less than half a klick."** _

Rex continued trudging with the young woman in his arms, another woman's face flashed through his mind as he held Rio. The white tattooed face of Ahsoka Tano flashed through his memory and he grimaced inwardly. He would never forget how many times he had carried her the same way he currently carried Rio in his arms. Rex shook his head to ignore the thoughts of his friend whose whereabouts were currently unknown.

 _ **"Fives, radio that the commanders down, she's going to need help asap."**_  Rex ordered quickly, he didn't need confirmation from Fives to know that the job was already done.

_**"Sir, we have a problem."** _

_**"Explain Fives."** _

_**"Cut the bucket talk Rex, I think they're trying to locate our signal."**  _Fives warned him before his line went dead.

"What's the problem?" Rex growled. Fives pushed his shoulders down, which forced him into a crouch, the captain found this severely uncomfortable as he awkwardly held the bleeding young woman in his arms. Rex tried to ignore the blood that was had begun to drip onto the blue glassy material of the Christophis walkways.

"There's droid lookouts directly in our path towards the commander, if they spot us… Who know how long we'll have."

" _Osik_ ," Rex muttered, he glanced down at the blood on his armor. "What should we do?"

"Take another route, its about three klicks farther than where we are now but…" Rex cut him off before Fives could finish.

"We don't have the time."

"But Sir…"

"We go the way we originally planned to," Rex looked down at the woman in his arms before continuing, "Rio doesn't exactly have the liberty of three klicks, right now."

Rex watched Fives give him a stiff nod before standing up with his rifle ready at all times as he moved. Rex felt uneasy as they continued moving swiftly through the alleyways, not bothering to watch his sides as he did. He knew Fives was more than capable of for them. As he darted forwards to gain cover behind a building, he heard the distinctive voice of his brothers as they set up a main base. The tall figure of Anakin Skywalker was shuffling around with a pair of binoculars in hand, clearly on the lookout for an enemy.

Rex ignored the part of himself that stressed he maintain his comlink radio silence and he pressed the button on his forearm. "General, we're about fifty paces away, have Kix be ready."

"Copy that." Anakin's voice flitted through his comlink loud and clear. Turning to give Fives a nod Rex ran towards the newly constructed base. He wasn't surprised at how Anakin seemed unconcerned with his injured new padawan. After Ahsoka left, Rex noticed Anakin becoming more reckless. Now Rex wouldn't say it was a problem had the General been reckless with his own life, but once he started taking his near suicidal intentions to the battle field, Rex had become wary. Anakin needs to learn to let go of Ahsoka, Rex thought to himself as he glanced down at the girl passed out girl he ran with. Rio's either going to save him or break him further.

Within a few seconds of hard running and dodging behind various objects, Rex finally reached the compound. He wasn't going to deny that his arms ached from carrying the blonde padawan in his arms. Many of his men came over to see if the girl was alright and attempted to ask Rex or Fives what had happened.

A trooper in beat up blue armor walked over, no gun in hand, Rex recognized Kix and watched him, he was waiting for the medics orders. Rex may be the Captain, but when it came to injuries whatever Kix said went unquestioned.

"Bring her over here Sir. I should be able to tend to her gunshot easily." Kix said, his voice held no emotion as he spoke and Rex was unable to tell if this was a good sign or not. Rex glanced around the camp, he was looking for Anakin to see if the Jedi would even bother coming to see his injured padawan. Of course, once he saw the General conversing with one of the men Rex realized he wasn't going to bother checking on his new padawan.

"Fives!" Rex screamed, he needed to talk to the general about what happened. "Get over here and help Kix."

"Looks like I get to play assistant medic with the Commander." Fives joked as he rushed to take Rex's place next to Rio. "You think she's gonna be ok?" Rex stayed to hear what Kix said back to the Arc trooper. Kix took his helmet off so he could have a better view of her wounds, he looked specifically at the wound on her side, the piece of metal still protruded awkwardly.

"Let me get this out. Then we'll see if she doesn't bleed to death. Rio's lost a lot of blood as it is." Rex gave Kix a look at his use of the Commander's name, the medic just shrugged in response. "She ordered me to call her that, I had no choice sir." Rex smiled even though the entire situation was ridiculous.

"I'm going to go inform the General on the situation with the Commander. Take care of her while I'm gone." Rex informed them as he walked in the direction of the Skywalker. Once he approached the shiny that currently talked to him moved out of the way and made a quick gesture of greeting for the clone captain. Rex watched a smirk appear on Anakin's face as Rex walked towards the man. For an unknown reason he wanted to smack the General and scream at him to get over to Kix and help the medic with his injured padawan.

"Ah Rex, did everything work out as planned?"

"Sir, we found several droid squads. There were at least twenty civilian casualties, and they were more than just shot, they were cut up General. Rio took care of the seppies."

"Why did they go after the civilians?" Anakin questioned, he looked at Rex with narrowed confused eyes.

"W-we don't know yet Sir."

"How's my padawan?"

"I don…" A scream cut him off.

"Poodoo." Anakin swore at the sound and it only took Rex seconds to realize where it was coming from.

He turned back towards Kix who was attempting to hold down a screaming thrashing Rio. Rex immediately took off into a run towards them and crouched down on his knees as he helped hold her down.

"What did you do?" He yelled at Kix who looked up at him shocked.

"I just gave her a sleeping drug! She shouldn't even be awake enough to feel this." Kix was gesturing towards the shard of jagged metal sticking in her side. Without even taking a moment to think, Rex wrapped his hand around the metal shard and ripped it from Rio's side. A fresh wave of red blood poured out and Kix applied heavy bandages in an attempt to stem the bleeding.

"Rex while you're at it, apply a bacta patch to her gun shot wound on the leg."

Rex grabbed a knife from Kix's medical kit and cut the thick nerf hide leggings off her right leg at the thigh. He ripped open a bacta patch using his teeth and placed the healing liquid on the dirty blondes leg. Rex threw a look over his shoulder at Anakin who hadn't moved, his eyes were wide and Rex saw a look he recognized. It was the same one Anakin had when Ahsoka had the blue shadow virus and they didn't know if she would make it.  _Finally, the di'kut shows some sort of concern for her._

Rex looked down at his armor and realized it was covered in the blood of the whimpering girl in front of him. He watched Kix sit back and wipe a crimson covered gloved hand on his forehead, a small smirk was present on his face.

"The charmers gonna be ok I take it?" Fives asked, he looked a little shaken from the girls reaction. It was a curious sight for Rex to see the Arc trooper zoned out, usually it was nearly impossible to see him in anything but a joking mood.

"She'll be fine. I'll give her something so she'll wake up." Rex took his helmet off after this statement. A breathe he didn't even know he had been holding escaped him. All he needed to hear was the quick click to know Kix had injected Rio with a revival shot, it would wake her up in a few minutes.

A smirk graced his features, _that could have been so much worse,_  he thought to himself. He looked back at the blonde girl in time to see her gray eyes.

* * *

 _Why does everything kriffing hurt? Did I get run over by a rancor?_  Rio tried to move her leg but let out of hiss of pain as she opened her eyes. The first thing that she saw was Captain Rex sitting over her, he was covered in blood and fear gripped Rio's stomach. Automatically, the blonde whipped her head around and attempted to see if anyone else was injured. She was pleasantly surprised and shocked when she was able to recognize she was the only one in the med tent.  _Looks like my plan worked after all._  Rio had known using frag explosives was dangerous and could have been a terrible idea.

If either Rex or Fives had been hurt the girl would never have let herself live it down. She tried to sit up, but found that her side felt like someone had stabbed it. Strong arms pushed Rio's torso back down and she looked up into the face of clone with a tattoo on the side of his head that read " _A good droid is a dead one."_

"Kix?" Rio asked. The clone smiled bashfully at her remembering his name, she knew most Jedi didn't even bother to ask for it.

"Please Commander take it easy."

"It's just Rio."

"Sir, it's not regulation…"

"I don't give a  _snot_  what's regulation or not."

"But sir…" This time Rex spoke, Rio noticed that all the clones with helmets where turning their heads towards each other after specific pauses. Now if she hadn't had Jep instruct her for so long she would have passed it off as simple observation, but she had learned that clones only did this when they communicated with each other.

"Don't make me order you Rex." The young woman practically growled. Rex just rolled his eyes at her before putting his helmet on and answering her.

"Whatever you say Kid." Rex mocked. Rio flashed him a quick smirk before turning her attention back to Kix.

"So am I all patched up?" The medic was gingerly putting his supplies away and he paused at her question, she could tell he was clearing thinking of a proper way to answer her.

"You're going to need to take it easy for a little while." Before Rio had time to protest at this a yell came from the other side of the camp.

"Droids incoming!"

Rio's smirk widened and she flashed Kix a thumbs up before quickly stating.

"No time to rest like tomorrow." Kix opened his mouth and protest but was unable to stop the girl as she struggled to get up and eventually started to hobble over towards the front lines. The only thing that was going through the medics mind was,  _how did she manage to even get up?_

Had he asked the blood soaked padawan currently hobbling to the front lines to stand next to her new master she would have gladly answered. All Rio was doing was blocking out the pain from her brain. It was a trick she had picked up from Master Yoda when she was just a child at the temple, it made her able to stop herself from feeling the full effects of pain. Once she saw what was in front of them the girl's smirk fell from her face. There had to be at least four hundred separatist droids closing in on them at that exact moment. The only encouraging factor that Rio could see was that they came as one group in the middle of the road. Clones were already taking up their positions and firing at the droids as they tried to prevent them from reaching the base. From her position Rio could hear Anakin talking to Rex.

"Get the men ready, we'll hit them head on…" Before Anakin was able to say another word Rio was already cutting him off, her arm was curled around her bandaged side. The blue buildings of Christophis glittered in the light and made her eyes hurt from the excessive glint of the sun. So she squinted up at Anakin and Rex, both who stood at least a head taller than her.

"Master, won't that cause more troopers to be put in the line of fire?"

"Yes, but it's all part of the plan."

"Why don't you just outflank the enemy on both sides and shoot them from the alleys or the roof tops?" Rio asked as she examined the buildings in the area. "A small squad would be the only thing needed to keep their attention on the front and not the snipers on the roof and troopers outflanking them."

"General, it's a good plan." Rex stated simply. She flashed him a smile and a wink before he continued. "Another one of her plans worked today, so I say lets trust her with this one to." She watched Anakin's eyes look between her and Rex anxiously.

"Fine, but Rio you need to stay here with me. Rex you to." Anakin ordered. Rio nodded determination set on her face before she took out her lightsabers. Her body still hurt like a bitch but she choose to promptly ignore this fact. "Rex brief the men on the plan and make sure snipers get to the roofs as well."

"Rex get me a gun, one with nice range on it as well please."

"Sir?" Rex questioned, she saw him sharing a look with Anakin.

"Well you know Captain, I'm not in exactly fit condition to be launching myself into the air slashing a glowing sword around at droids, so I need a gun." Anakin looked like he was about to protest but she cut him off. "Jep taught me how to use a gun Master, I may not be as good as the men, but I will hit nine out of ten targets."

"Do you ever not get your way?" A trooper to her right asked as he shrugged on gear. A quick glance at this gun and Rio knew he was a sniper.

"Just get the kid a kriffing gun di'kut." Rex ordered, before he looked at Anakin. The same trooper that just spoke handed her a classic DC-15. She smiled as she took the gun and ran her hands over the metal exterior.

"Can I start the battle?" Rio asked Skywalker who gave her a quick nod as he ignited his lightsaber. Rio took the blaster and lined a shot up, she evened out her breathing and just before she was about to shoot something stopped her. This situation was nearly identical to what happened on Ryloth with Demon Company. The young woman's heart seized up and her eyes widened in fear, what if I screw up again? Her confident façade was fading until someone spoke gently in her ear.

"Any day now kid." It was Rex, his hand had found its way to her shoulder, and with that little piece of encouragement, she shot.


End file.
